Traveling With A Girlfriend

Everything You Need To Know Before You Book A Trip With Your Girlfriend

Traveling for the holidays? We put together a Holiday Travel Hacks guide to make your life easier — from packing to travel time to activities you can do when you get there.

If you’re planning a weekend away from it all (the most-coveted sexcation) with your significant other, going out of town with someone you love is vital in keeping sane while simultaneously checking out things you’ve never seen (or done) before.

However, along with the relaxation comes the inevitable stress associated with leaving your comfort zone. Still, are there plenty of preventative steps and intuitive measures you can take to ensure your trip goes according to plan and leaves each party feeling a little stress as possible.

1. Plan Your Trip Over A Low-Key Holiday Weekend

One big stress that everyone feels is the pressure of taking time off work for setting up a nice week away. To immediately quell some of that stress out of the picture, plan a trip over an ancillary holiday weekend like Labor Day to cut down days you have to take off from work. It’s way less busy than a holiday like Christmas and Thanksgiving, and will give that extra time you need without the added pressure of feeling like you have to see your parents.

2. Book Through AirBnB

At this point, AirBnB is kind of a no-brainer. It’s used in 190 countries and over 34,000 cities. It’s way cheaper than most hotels (alleviating stresses about spending) and can give you a look into those offbeat parts of towns that hotels typically don’t cater to. Bonus, you get to meet new people if you choose to book a place with a host. On the other hand, if you’re really gunning for a hotel, you can use sites like Hipmunk and HotelTonightto find cheap rooms, or just stay in hostels!

3. Pack Smart

Don’t bring anything extraneous or weird. She doesn’t need her vast collection of rare Pokemon cards and you certainly don’t need your collection of rare ivory. Stick to the basics and, if you can, limit everything to one or two carry-ons. Then your stuff won’t get lost and that’s automatically one less thing to worry about.

4. Split Everything

Don’t even think twice about this one: Splitting everything down the middle (save for a few romantic dinners and presents) will stop any money-related resentment in its tracks. You can use websites like Splitwiseto keep track of all of your expenses and make sure everything evens out.

5. Balance 'We Time' With 'Me Time'

It’s truly a blast traversing foreign lands with someone you love, but it goes without saying that it’s important to explore alone as well — you know, finding yourself and that kind of crap. Without forgetting that you’re both going on a trip together, make some time (whether it’s a few hours or a full day) to take some time by yourself to wander. Heck, maybe you’ll come across a twee little store and find that rare porcelain sloth she’s been eyeing since last year. Presentscome about in mysterious ways.

6. Don’t Plan Everything

You need guidelines, but don’t ruin the trip by mapping out every second of every day. If you know you absolutely have to see the Louvre on Tuesday, then by all means, go to the Louvre on Tuesday. But, make sure you leave some free time around the big activity to allow for spontaneous mini-adventures. You don’t want to constantly be in a rush the entire time, trying to squeeze in every tourist trap. Don’t worry, despite its destruction in numerous action movies, the Eiffel Tower isn’t going anywhere.

7. Take Pictures

Yeah, do it. Take pictures, it’s romantic. Just keep in mind that your friends are being polite when they agree to watching your hour-long slideshow of you and your babe hanging out on a cobblestone street in Holland. Also, pro-tip: do not bring a selfie stick anywhere unless you’d like to commit social suicide.

8. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Within reason, that is. If some shady dude in a back alley offers you pills under the guise of them being DayQuil, it’s better to wager that they’re not and he’s trying to steal your kidney. But seriously, get outside of your comfort zone and do stuff you wouldn’t usually do at home. Eat weird food, drink weird things, dance in weird warehouses, get weird tattoos (as long as they’re not matching.) Wait, are you going on vacation in Brooklyn? Point is, make the best of your dual-vacation.

9. Leave Time For Romance

This is actually a prerequisite for all relationships — traveling or not — you should always leave room for sex. Never get so engrossed in schedules and plans that you forget about sex. You’re not dating a friend, you’re dating a person who has given permission to see them naked and touch their stuff. So, if you feel a hankering for post-Louvre sexy times, go back to your hotel and knock boots until your teeth shatter. Then get a post-coital baguette, because apparently we’re in France.

10. Research

Let’s be honest, not every country is going to be as easy-going, safe and accepting of selfie sticks as America. That being said, just do some research about where you’re going before you book your tickets. If you happen to go to a country where white T-shirts are outlawed, consider not wearing a white T-shirt. A quick Google search will procure all the information you need to keep you and your loved one safe.

11. Keep Planning

Don’t make your random trip to Iceland a one-time romantic trip that happened nine years ago. Keep on planning trips, keep on taking pictures, keep on saving your money for that crazy-long plane ride to Australia. Honestly, if you keep things from getting boring, they simply won’t get boring.